Rage Against a Filthy Cage By: Mistress Lesley

For as long as I can remember, cleanliness has been an issue for me. One of my very first memories is of a five year old girl being taught to make hospital corners on her little white bed. While I am today grateful for the drive to keep my home and personal environments clean, I am sickened by some of the neglect I’ve seen from others. For many years, I have done free-lance cleaning of rental properties for spare cash. About a month ago, I got a call from a client who needed a home cleaned up within 72 hours. 

 The former tenants were raided for drugs, and owner was given that amount of time to clean the premises. When I arrived to the property, I started to question my sanity. Just standing in front of the house, I was rendered breathless from the stench coming from within the house. Upon opening the door, I found the largest pile of maggots I had ever seen. These vermin were feasting on a large delicious pile of dirty diapers and soiled baby clothes. I immediately turned around and lost my stomach off of the step.

   Then, I started to cry. I cried for the babies that were subjected to that disgust. I also cried for myself in that I would have to clean that mess. The more I cried, the angrier I became. I called DCFS. I wanted to know how children could be allowed to live so long in that kind of environment with no intervention. I got nothing but the royal run around from these jokers.

   I was informed that keeping a dirty home is no crime. I was also told that these parents will be able to retain custody of these kids after being released from jail. While they were originally sited for child endangerment and drug manufacturing, the good old legal system got the child abuse charge dropped to make an example of the drug issues. In other words, it was just like those kids were never there. The State’s Attorney made three chemically burned kids magically disappear with the wave of a court order. In fact, these three kids weren’t even present in the DCFS system.

   After over an hour of arguing with the supervisor, I finally hung up on her. I told her I was not being taken seriously. All I wanted was an explanation as to why they are not doing the job they are paid to do. All I got was an hour of excuses and insanely skewed statistics about child abuse. In other words, the next time you fear a child is in danger, don’t call the agency that is paid to handle these cases. Rather, call the police. The Department of Children & Family Services is only there at their own convenience, which by the way is Monday through Friday: 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. Don’t you just feel great about the safety of our Kids?